


Snow Day

by marzbarz



Series: it takes a village (or a pirate crew) [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 10:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1344025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marzbarz/pseuds/marzbarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy continues his run as the happiest ball of chaos to ever hit the Moby Dick, now with added fun in the snow! His family continues to think he is adorable and exasperating in equal measure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Day

**Author's Note:**

> 3/23 - went back through to try and fix all the formatting weirdness, hopefully it worked! No new content, just making it look better.

Marco smothered a yawn as he stumbled back to his quarters. He’d managed to wrap up his supply run/haggle-fest a couple hours early, and the only thing on his mind was using that extra few hours to get some sleep after the all-nighter he’d pulled talking to Oyaji about possible Sixth Division Commanders. They'd been watching the last few contenders carefully for a couple weeks, trying to make a final choice. Eventually they’d settled on Rakuyo, one of the senior members of the division, and Marco had left to oversee the supply run. That was a good eight hours ago, and now he was ready to fall into bed for at least six hours.

He groaned in aggravation when he saw the door to his room already open – if Thatch had pulled some sort of prank while he was gone, he was going to murder the fourth division commander, best friend or not. He was too tired for this shit today. "Thatch, if you're in here, I'm going to kill you, yoi," he said as he stepped through the door.

Thatch was, in fact, in the room - he was sprawled in the center, fast asleep, Luffy snoring away on his chest. Both of them were covered in rainbow streaks of paint, as were Marco's walls.

Marco stared at the scene for a minute, trying to decide if he was mad at the mess or if the sight of Thatch and Luffy curled up like puppies and snoring away was too adorable for him to work up a temper. In the end the cuteness won out, and he left for a few minutes to find a camera so he could give Whitebeard a picture of the pair.

Once that was done he crouched down by the snoring pair and started poking Thatch in the cheek; he wasn't above petty revenge for all the times Thatch had done the same to him. "Thatch. Thatch. Thatch. Thatch. Thatch." Thatch slapped at Marco's hand with a groan, turning his head away, but Marco followed the movement and continued the poking. "Thaaaaaaaatch. Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatch."

"God dammit, Marco, what the fuck do you want?" Thatch growled, cracking open one eye to glare at his friend. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"Yes, you are," Marco said, "but this is my room. And you're covered in paint, just like my walls. I want an explanation, yoi." He gestured to the splotches of bright color everywhere, especially at Luffy-height. "Though I'll admit I was anticipating all my furniture being on the ceiling when I got back and saw my door open."

"Luffy thought you were too serious, which is true," Thatch said, yawning widely and rubbing a hand across his eyes. "I was going to prank you to loosen you up, and the squirt decided you needed more color in your life to cheer you up. He said something else, too, but I don't remember what it was." He poked Luffy in the side. "Lu, wake up, Marco's back and wants an explanation." When Luffy just snuggled closer and mumbled something about food, Thatch motioned for Marco to back up and yelled "I'm going to eat all the meat!"

Luffy shot into a sitting position, waving his arms angrily and almost smacking Marco in the nose as he shouted "SHARE, MEANIE THATCH!" He seemed to immediately forget his annoyance, though, turning to Marco with a bright smile. "Oh! Marco's back! We made your room pretty and happy so when you have to do lotsa work you don't get annoyed and in a bad mood, do you like it?"

"It's growing on me," Marco said with an amused grin. "Where did this come from, though? Why'd you decide to do it now, yoi?"

"You looked really really tired a lot," Luffy said matter-of-factly. "And you couldn't play ever cuz you were busy, and that's no fun, so I thought you needed something fun cuz all work and no play makes Marco a cranky bastard."

"Oh really? Who told you that last part, yoi?" When Luffy pointed at a sheepish Thatch, Marco just rolled his eyes. Of course. "Well, thank you, Luffy. I appreciate it."

"What, no thanks for your wonderful best friend who helped too?" Thatch cried indignantly, punching Marco lightly on the shoulder. "Where's the gratitude, man?"

"There would be more gratitude if said best friend didn't also call me a cranky bastard," Marco said dryly, shoving Thatch towards the door. "Now get out. I'm going to sleep. Tell everybody not to wake me up unless the ship is burning down around us, yoi."

"G'night Marco!" Luffy said, jumping up and giving Marco a hug before running out after Thatch. Marco waved after the pair, grinning. They may be idiots, but they were his idiots, and he really wouldn't want them any other way.

* * *

Thatch woke up to colder temperatures and a shivering four-year-old in his bed. They'd been heading towards a winter island for the first time since Luffy had joined the crew, after an extensive shopping expedition to fit the kid out in cold-weather clothes. "Somebody wasn't ready for the cold, huh," he murmured under his breath as he got up and pulled on a sweatshirt before peeking out the window. He grinned widely at the sight of snow, already thinking of all the things he was going to show Luffy once the kid woke up.

He caught up on some of his work while Luffy slept, congratulating himself on the large stack in the ‘done’ pile when Luffy finally started to stir. He practically skipped over to the bed, singing “Wakey wakey eggs and bakey, munchkin! I have something to shoooow youuuu!”

“Bacon?” Luffy yelled, shooting upright in excitement. “Is it bacon? Lots and lots of bacon?”

“No, little stomach with legs, it is not bacon,” Thatch said, rolling his eyes. “Come on, get dressed in warm stuff and we’ll get breakfast. After that I have something new to show you.”

“Is it new food?” Luffy asked, pulling on sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. “I hope its new food.”

“No it is not new food,” Thatch said, shaking his head as he helped Luffy into warm boots and a puffy jacket. “I swear, you have a one-track mind until you get fed. Come on then, to the galley.”

Half an hour later Thatch was racing Luffy out of the galley, most of the other commanders trailing after at a slower pace. Thatch skidded to a stop in front of the door to the deck, snatching Luffy around the waist before he ran headlong into the wood. “Now for the surprise,” he said, beaming down at Luffy. “I give you –“ he flung the door open, gesturing dramatically, “- SNOW!”

Luffy immediately dashed out and flung himself into one of the taller drifts that had built up overnight, giggling wildly. “It’s all fluffy!” he shouted, flailing his way out and shaking himself off. “And cold. I like it.”

“You can build with it, or eat it, or throw it at people,” Thatch explained, packing a ball in his hands and rolling it around the deck. “Want to help me build a snowman?”

“Yeah!” Luffy cheered, running over to help with the rolling. “What’s a snowman?” Thatch explained the process, and soon they had a nice-sized snowman set up near one railing, complete with vegetable-face and a hilarious attempt at a snow-pompadour. “Snow-Marco next!” Luffy cheered, dragging Marco over to help. This snowman was identical to the last except for the snow-pompadour, which was replaced with an even more hilarious attempt at Marco’s unique hairstyle that had Thatch rolling on the ground howling with laughter. “Snow-Oyaji!” Luffy yelled next, running off to find Whitebeard. By the time everyone trooped back into the galley for lunch the deck was littered with snow-versions of all the division commanders and Whitebeard.

Luffy was back on the deck as soon as he had finished eating, closely followed by Thatch and the vast majority of the crew. The group swiftly split into three teams – one headed by Whitebeard, one by Marco, and one by Thatch, with the rest of the commanders split evenly between them. The groups all sprinted off to make snow forts, and they spent the rest of the day engaged in an epic snowball fight. By the time dinner rolled around, the whole crew was covered in snow and grinning like maniacs.

"So, how did you like your first snow day, Lu?" Rakuyo asked, sipping on hot chocolate while Luffy chugged his entire mug in one go and demanded more.

"It's amazing!" Luffy said, smiling brightly. "Are we gonna have more? Is there still gonna be snow tomorrow? Can we never leave the snow ever?"

Blenheim laughed, patting Luffy on the head. "We'll have plenty more - Oyaji said we'd be at winter islands for at least two weeks. We'll have to leave the snow eventually, though; lots of our territory has much warmer weather, and not everyone on the crew loves the snow as much as you."

"Which is blasphemy," Thatch called from behind his mug of hot chocolate. "Snow is a wonderful thing. The only thing Oyaji ever loses at is snowball fights, after all!"

"Not even I can defeat the entire crew in a snowball fight," Whitebeard said, taking a large swig of his own special hot chocolate (made 75% alcohol, 25% hot chocolate). "And by the end it is always all my children ganging up on me." He tried to sound annoyed, but his giant grin kind of blew it.

"I think we should stay at winter islands all the time," Luffy said seriously as Marco topped up his hot chocolate. "Never leave. Ever." He had a lot more snow-people to make, after all. He didn't want to leave any of the crew out.

"We'll see what we can do, my son," Whitebeard said, wrapping his youngest up in a warm blanket. "We'll see what we can do."

* * *

"Luffy, I think it’s time we started teaching you how to swim," Namur said, watching Luffy swing his feet happily as he sat on the edge of the railing. "You fall in the ocean often enough that you need to be able to keep yourself up."

"I don't fall in on purpose," Luffy said, giving Namur a bright smile. "I just tip over a lot."

"Either way, it's a useful skill," Thatch commented from where he was making sure Luffy didn't fall. "You're not a hammer like Marco or Oyaji, so you might as well learn."

"When are we gonna start? Are we gonna start now? Are we? Are we?" Luffy practically bounced in place on the rail, and Namur reached out automatically to steady him.

"Next time we make land, kid. I'd rather start you out somewhere your feet can reach the bottom than in the middle of the ocean." It would all too easy for something to go wrong, and that was not something Namur wanted to risk.

"Boooo, you're no fun," Luffy pouted, sticking his tongue out at the fishman.

"This is your chance to learn patience, brat," Thatch said, poking Luffy in the side. "We're a few hours from the island we're having the April birthday party on, you can wait that long." Luffy grumbled, crossing his arms and settling into a sulk.

"I still have to run it by Oyaji anyways," Namur said, patting Luffy on the head. "Want to come ask him with me?"

"Sure!" Luffy brightened immediately, hopping off the rail and running off with a loud cry of "OYAJIIIIIIIII!"

Thatch sniffed theatrically. "Our baby is growing up. I wonder if he'll pick up swimming as fast as he did walking." He winced as they watched Luffy trip on his own feet, smack face-first into the deck, and bounce up with tears in his eyes as he continued his sprint with a new goal of a hug.

Namur shrugged, heading after Luffy. "Doesn't really matter, does it? We'll hold him up if he sinks either way."

**Author's Note:**

> On the Moby Dick, they have a birthday party a month, in honor of everyone on the crew who’s birthday is in that month. They rotate the day every year to the actual date of someone’s birthday. And Luffy is learning how to swim! He is going to be terrible at it. Absoluely terrible. (Shanks calling him “anchor” will be pried out of my cold dead hands I’m sorry Luffy no swimming skills for you)
> 
> Luffy gives the rainbow-room treatment to all the commanders at least once before he turns 17; whenever they look tired or stressed he shanghais someone (usually Thatch) into helping him make their room happy and pretty.


End file.
